Steve Nash is to Canadian basketball what Gretzky was to U.S. hockey

They’re both Canadian sports icons. One is arguably the best player in the history of the National Hockey League and the game’s greatest ambassador in the United States. The other the best Canadian basketball player ever produced and the game’s face in Canada.

Wayne Gretzky was heroic in Edmonton and Canada and became hockey’s big thing in the U.S. Steve Nash is a big deal in Phoenix and throughout the U.S. and is an even bigger deal here in Canada.

In team sport in particular and professional sport in general, they will go down in history as among our country’s greatest exports.

Who is the bigger export presents an interesting debate. One could suggest Gretzky has the edge because he skated in the large markets of Los Angeles and New York and defined Canada most because he played hockey.

Others would point to the bigger footprint held by basketball in the U.S. and give the nod to Nash, saying his talent has been showcased on the larger continental stage of the NBA.

What is clear is that the two Canadians have served as the single most important ambassadors in their respective sports in their generations; with Gretzky popularizing hockey in the U.S. and Nash making basketball more relevant in his own country.

Nash is the most famous face of the Phoenix Suns franchise and has become one of the highest-profile players in the NBA on the strength of two league MVP crowns and the kind of durability and excellence which has led his team to the western conference finals against Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Nash and the Suns are in tough against Kobe and the Lakers, who appear destined to reach their third successive NBA Finals and set up a rematch of the 2008 championship round won by the Boston Celtics.

Yet none of that reduces the Nash factor in Canada when it comes to interest in the NBA. When he plays – both during the regular season and especially in these playoffs when the Suns have been a going concern – Canadians pay attention. And that goes for sports editors and sports directors as well as fans watching on television.

When he doesn’t, we don’t. The NBA has been fortunate to score 175,000 viewers on TSN during these playoffs and hoops on Canadian cable television rarely crosses the 250,000 audience threshold. With Nash on the small screen, however, the average Canadian audiences should climb to north of 400,000 if the Suns can make things interesting in Phoenix.

It’s the kind of personal brand appeal – one shaped in part by his on-court talent and leadership and in part by his record of community investment, charity work and social activism – that is all too rare these days in professional sport.

It’s the kind of appeal that makes a great template for Canadian athletes and athletes the world over in any team sport.

It’s the kind of appeal that makes you understand how important Steve Nash is to Canadian basketball and wonder what kind of transformational impact he would have had on the game in this country had he been acquired by the old Vancouver Grizzlies or the Toronto Raptors at any time in his career.

Now that’s fantasy basketball worth considering.

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NBA's LA Lakers continue to fire on all cylinders

On the court this National Basketball Association regular season, Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers continued their winning ways. Off the court, the drawing power of Bryant and the iconic Lakers brand was no less impressive.

That's why the defending champion Lakers top the first annual NBA Composite Power Rankings compiled for the 2009-'10 regular season by TheSportMarket.biz.

With appearances in the last two NBA Finals -- including last year's championship win over the Orlando Magic -- the Lakers are the best all-round professional basketball club on the planet on the strength of the composite power ranking which spans both basketball operations and business operations.

As is the case for the less-celebrated Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League (http://thesportmarket.blogspot.com/2010/04/vancouver-canucks-1-in-nhl-composite.html), the Lakers hold the best on and off court results of any franchise in the NBA during the 2009-'10 regular season. Third on the floor through 82 regular season games -- with a winning percentage of .695 -- and first at the box office, the Lakers score an overall performance index of 2.

That puts them #1 among the NBA's 30 clubs in the composite power rankings, which combine final regular season standings (the best way to guage of basketball operations performance across all lines of the game: management, coaching, scouting, sport medical, science and training support and player development personnel) with regular season box office clout (the leading indicator of business operations performance, with sponsorship, merchandise and broadcast sales typically built on attendance and ticket prices).

Powered by 41 virtual sellouts at the Staples Center (averaging 18,997 fans per game) and an average ticket price of $93.25 which is in a class of its own in the NBA, the Lakers edge out the two teams they're most likely to face in the 2010 NBA Finals and western conference finals, respectively; the second-ranked Cleveland Cavaliers and third-ranked Phoenix Suns.

With superstar Lebron James at the helm, the Cavs parlay a league-leading .744 on-court winning percentage and a sixth-ranked estimated box office of over $1.15 million US per home game into an overall performance index of 3.5. Phoenix saw its sellout streak of three plus seasons end last October, but the resurgent Suns have finished strong on the floor under veteran Canadian Steve Nash (fifth overall with a .659 winning percentage) and seventh in the league at the box office, averaging $1.13 million US per game. The Suns' overall performance index is 6.

Dwight Howard and the Magic are seeded to face the Cavs in the eastern final after another solid regular season in which they were second in the conference and second in the league. Yet their home in a small central Florida theme park market means they have to settle for an average ticket price of $40.30 US that is eighth lowest in the NBA and a box office that at $704 K US is about a third of what the Lakers take in at every home game (especially when one considers what the titlehoders make on their "Nicholsons", their VIP courtside seats at the Staples Center).

A new and bigger Amway Center next year will help the Magic move up the overall rankings but the Lakers are clearly well-established as the current league leaders across all aspects of the business of basketball, with a heritage brand, a superstar in Bryant and a winning team...not to mention a home in the second biggest media and television market in North America.

The full NBA Composite Power Rankings for 2009-'10 are available at www.Facebook.com/TheSportMarket.

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Impact of Vancouver 2010 on U.S. television: Less watching TNT and FOX and more watching NBC

The NBA All-Star Game made the most of its venue opportunity and, with 108,713 at Cowboys Stadium last Sunday, set an all-time record for basketball game attendance.

The new $1.6 billion US stadium was as big a star in the proceedings as were Lebron James and Kobe Bryant. The buzz around the stadium and its capacity to set the attendance record heightened media coverage in the U.S. and sponsorship activation hype around the NBA's fan festival in Arlington, Texas.

Expect more of the Mark Cuban-inspired outdoor NBA All-Star games in 2013 and beyond at places like Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Reliant Stadium in Houston and University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

Those are the positives. The downside for the 2010 NBA All-Star game was a 4.4 cable rating with 6.9 million viewers of the game on TNT in the U.S., a television audience decline of 15.4 percent from last year’s 5.2 rating and 7.6 million viewers.

Yet no one should look at that drop in ratings as a reflection of long-term concern for the NBA and its All-Star format. The equally-iconic Daytona 500 had an even larger drop of 16 per cent over last year on FOX.

TNT and FOX had less people watching their sports properties last weekend because NBC -- and its cable platforms -- had more. That's because NBC is carrying the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games in the U.S. and every four years, competing networks programming in February have to grin and bear the television magnet that is the Winter Olympics.

More than 152 million Americans have watched at least some part of Vancouver 2010 in the first week of the Games on NBC's networks; the most since the Tonya Harding-Nancy Kerrigan drama drew millions of non-sports fans to Lillehammer 1994. Last night's figure skating gold drew an average American audience of 24.8 million and a cumulative tally of 77 million viewers -- both well higher than Turin 2006.

The night before, NBC rode Shaun White's snowboarding gold to knock off American Idol, scoring 12 million more viewers than the FOX juggernaut, which typically rules Wednesday nights in the U.S. Last Friday's opening ceremonies kicked things off big time for NBC with an average audience of 32.6 million in the U.S.

NBC has done well and will continue to drive strong ratings around Vancouver 2010 because (a) they are happening in the North American time zone; (b) they are effectively cross-promoting their coverage across multiple platforms and on all three screens; (c) the economy is keeping more people at home in front of their televisions; (d) as is the cold winter weather throughout much of the U.S.; and, most important, (e) American athletes are hot, off to a great start and the U.S. team tops the medal podium at the midway mark of the Games.

Nothing drives interest and national television audiences -- especially for Americans -- like success.

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Three recommendations for Tiger Woods

He did it. The face of golf -- Tiger Woods -- actually faced the public today in what amounted to a televised statement; his first formal appearance since the bizarre November 27th, 2009 car accident and subsequent admissions of infidelity that rocked his world and created a media and public relations firestorm before Christmas.

Finally appearing live in public is a step forward for Woods in beginning the process of repatriating his personal and professional brands. He deserves kudos for doing that. Thumbs up to some of the scripted points of contrition in speech – particularly the admission that “I thought I was entitled” -- and the presence of his mom (although her folded arms were the body language of someone who found today’s session as tough if not tougher than Woods himself).

This all would have meant more if Woods had done what he did today a couple of months back. It would have shown more professional accountability and responsiveness to his key stakeholders – including the PGA Tour itself -- his corporate sponsors and the fans who make him such a marketable commodity. Think Magic Johnson on how he handled a very personal issue which had leaked into the public arena almost 20 years ago.

Thumbs down to the lag time of almost three months of silence that elapsed before he finally took the time today to address his public live. Also, thumbs down to his choice of such an overly-staged, highly-controlled format. It was nothing more than a televised scripted statement and, in my view, he’d be further on his way to repatriating his brand if he complemented a proper media conference with a personal television interview or some more human and interactive format. Think Alex Rodriguez and ESPN.

And too bad he wasn’t able to convince his wife Elin Nordegren to attend. It would have made for a much stronger televised statement and added credence to the prospects of his marriage surviving. Think Kobe Bryant.

Recommendation #1 for Tiger Woods going forward: take and heed more advice from the management team around him and his family and friends.

Recommendation #2: do what it takes to better understand the sizeable communications responsibilities of a business valued at $650 M US plus.

Recommendation #3: stop blaming tabloid media and protect the privacy of his personal and family life by being more accessible in his professional life.

Expect a follow-up relatively soon on the precise timing of when he returns to the PGA Tour. The business imperatives of playing the tour and resuming his pursuit of 18 and more majors will drive that sooner rather than later for Tiger Woods.

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